Central Asia: The Perpetual Next War Zone

Archives

February 7, 2006: With help of Russia and China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have managed to lock down terrorist activity in the Ferghana Valley (which runs through the three countries.) Islamic terrorist groups Hizbi Tahrir and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan have disappeared from view, but have not been destroyed. The unrest is still there, and growing because of the continued government corruption and incompetence. However, Central Asia is on its way to being the perpetual next battleground in the war on terror.

February 5, 2006: Despite the mixing of ethnic populations in Central Asia (the result of decades of Soviet policies), there has not been a lot of ethnic violence. Lots of ethnic ill will, but not a lot of gunfire and dead bodies. However, in northern Kyrgyzstan, teenagers arguing over who went next in an Internet cafe, caused several days of brawls and bad feelings between the Kyrgyz population minority Dungan (Chinese Moslems). This is not likely to go very far, but shows the potential for ethnic conflicts.

January 31, 2006: Switzerland has joined the European Union in imposing an arms embargo and travel sanctions on Uzbekistan.

January 18, 2006: Kyrgyzstan is trying to get the U.S. to increase payments for use of the 2,500 acre Manas air base, from $5 million, to $50 million a year. Local politicians have developed a feeding frenzy around the rich Americans.

 

Article Archive

Central Asia: Current 2012 2011 2010 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close